


The Accidental Realization of Falling in Love

by everything_on_planet_earth



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Declarations Of Love, Denial of Feelings, First Kiss, Fluff, I don't know what else to put here, I guess it's post apocalypse, M/M, Smut, Swearing, Wings, Work In Progress, also dean doing that thing where he's pretending he's not in love with cas, because i'm too busy writing fluff to think about trivial things such as plot, but like, cas telling him he's stupid, or i'm a lazy ass, that's never mentioned, there will definitely be wings, you choose
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-03 10:50:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2848235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everything_on_planet_earth/pseuds/everything_on_planet_earth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean is absolutely, positively NOT in love with his best friend.<br/>Until one evening, he may or may not moan out Cas's name.<br/>And of course, an angel always comes when he's called.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first published fic so I hope it's not too terrible. It's obviously not finished but I am currently writing it as we speak. It isn't beta'd but I hope I haven't made any glaring mistakes (that being said, feel free to point them out if there are).  
> I would love feedback if you have the time, it means a lot to me to hear encouragement (and criticism would be greatly appreciated).  
> I always wondered what it would be like if Dean said Cas's name when he was with someone else and then Cas showed up because he thought Dean was praying to him. So I wrote it. Anyway, enjoy. (Thanks and stuff will be at the end).

They moved in sync, two bodies merging to one as Dean pressed his mouth to hers in desperation. There wasn't much emotion, all Dean felt was lust and relief that finally Sam was out of the motel so he could do something about the nagging in the back of his mind. It had been ages since he last picked up a one-night stand, and longer than ages before his brother was actually out of the motel for most of the night. Not that he didn’t love Sammy; of course he did, he was his whole world, but spending every waking minute with him made a guy insane.  
They had been staying with Bobby for the last few days as a supposed ‘holiday’ from hunting but when an easy salt’n’burn ghost cropped up not two miles out of town, they couldn’t just NOT help out.  
  
With the hunt finished and the decision to leave early tomorrow morning, Sam had gone out to the bar next door for a celebratory drink which Dean refused, insisting that he was ‘tired’ and ‘just wanted to get some rest’. A lie of course, you didn’t spend 30 odd years hunting without being able to handle a simple ghost.  
  
Going exactly to plan, this left Dean to drive to a bar slightly further away to pick up the first eager woman he found. It wasn’t hard, he only had been sitting down for a few minutes nursing a cold beer in his hands when a girl came up and started flirting. It took a total of three minutes for the small talk and subtle innuendos to make him certain she wanted the whole ‘no strings attached’ he had going on and then to take her to his car.  
  
As soon as the door to the motel opened they were on each other like wildfire and for the next ten minutes all that was running through his mind was, ‘ugh’ as they made out on the couch.  
His thoughts were interrupted as the girl – was it bad that he couldn’t remember her name? – slid her hand up his back in a caress that made him shudder. Her hands were everywhere; on his back, his thighs, his face, his chest. The tension started building, further and further as Dean’s breath hitched in his throat.  
Abruptly the hands on his back dug sharp nails into his skin and he couldn’t help himself. In a sigh that was a quick exhale of some of the tightness that was still building in his lower belly, he leant his forehead against her shoulder and moaned.

“Cas...”

She froze. He froze. In that moment the whole world stopped spinning.  
  
The shock on his face was partly reflected in the mostly anger filled face of the girl. Amongst the sound of his frantically beating heart he almost missed the sound of wings fluttering behind him.  
  
Almost.  
  
Dean didn’t dare turn his head, didn’t dare face the angel. He just shut his eyes and prayed that the ground would swallow him up. Not that praying would do much good in this case.  
  
The girl shoved him off of her lap and stood up in a rage. “My name is Emily you douchebag” she snarled. In a rush she snatched up her coat and turned, not noticing the trenchcoated figure standing to the left of the couch and stormed out of the motel, making sure to slam the door as loud as possible behind her. Dean felt a twinge of guilt for the girl and the mistake but that wasn't really his biggest priority right now. His biggest priority was the fact he had just moaned out his best friend’s name during a hot make out session and now not only had to deal with the fact that this meant he lusted after Cas but also the small point that said angel was in the room with him.  
  
While Dean was lying on the couch.  
  
Shirtless.  
  
Instead of facing his friend he decided to bury his face in the nearest pillow and think up an escape that involved either disappearing from existence or being swallowed whole by an unknown monster. His plans were cut short when Cas spoke.  


“You called?” the angel asked in confusion.   
  
Dean turned his head up at the piercing blue gaze of the angel before rubbing his hands over his face.  


“No Cas," he sighed, “I didn’t call you.”  


“But you said-“, “NO CAS IT WAS A MISTAKE!” Dean roared, interrupting the angel’s hurt and confused objection.  


“Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. But I think it would be best if you just left.” Dean said quietly, turning his face back into the pillow. No other words were spoken and after a long pause that seemed to contain all the awkward silences ever had at dinner parties, Dean heard a flutter of wings.   
  
That strained conversation had said it all. Confusion had been plastered all over Cas’s face mixed in with disbelief and something that he couldn’t read but was probably disgust. Dean let his head fall back onto the couch and sighed.  


“Fuck!”  


‘What have I done?’ Dean thought. ‘Not only have I ruined the fun night that was originally planned, but now I’ve possibly ruined a friendship and most likely made Cas fear for his virginity every time he’s around me.’  
  
He tried to clear his mind enough to sort out the jumbled thoughts.  
  
‘I like Cas’ was the main one. Was he thinking about him when he was with Emily? Was it just a mistake or does he actually have feelings for his friend? It felt right to moan out his name in the moment but now it just made Dean want to shudder.  
  
Before even beginning to sort it out, he decided he would go have a shower. Ah yes, nothing like a boiling hot stream of water to forget about the fact that he just fucked up everything.  
  
He peeled himself from the couch before going into his and Sam’s shared bedroom to swipe boxers and a t-shirt from his duffel bag.   
  
Once he was in the shower it was all he could do to not think about what happened. But trying to keep his thoughts away just brought them closer to the front of his mind and as he washed his hair under the crappy pressured motel shower he started thinking of what happened. It became apparent, now that he was letting himself think about it, that all those sideways glances, all those soft smiles and long drawn out gazes had been going on for a while now. As in, ever since Cas first appeared to him and Bobby. Cas didn’t know what they meant of course, he didn’t know that usually when someone stares at someone else for five minutes without looking away it doesn’t tend to just be platonic.  
  
But of course Dean would be the only one to feel anything. Castiel was a freaking CELESTIAL BEING and didn’t have feelings like humans had, didn’t know what lust or love or even pain felt like. And he certainly didn’t know or feel what has been going on between him and Dean since day one.  


Dean shook his head under the water and ran his fingers through his hair. Now that he realised that he may have slight feelings for the angel, he couldn’t help but wonder what Cas thought when he saw him and Emily. He wondered if Cas would ever speak to him again.   
  
What if he would request to only speak to Sam from now on? The thought hit him like a train and his shoulders slumped. He couldn’t worry about this now, he could feel exhaustion creeping in even though it was only nine o’clock and his whole body felt like lead. Turning the water off and stepping out of the shower, Dean slipped into the clothes he had brought into the bathroom with him and stumbled back into the bedroom. All the shower had done was make him cold and heavy with thought and before long Dean had fallen face first into his bed, trying to pull the covers up to combat the emptiness that was now all around him.   
  
He couldn’t help but think what it would feel like if Cas’s arms were wrapped around him. How warm they would be. How safe and happy he would feel when he could snuggle against his friend, hidden from sight and the rest of the world. As soon as the thought had occurred to him, Dean banished it from his min. That was NOT something he needed to be contemplating right now and he definitely DIDN'T want a chick-flick moment like that. Definitely not. He definitely did not want to feel his friend’s breath tickling the back of his neck, or his hand coming to rest on his hip or their legs intertwined beneath the covers. 

Dean sighed. This was going to be a long night.


	2. The Tension

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOBBY

The car ride back to Bobby’s was awkward to say the least.  
  
When Sam had gotten home last night, it was to find Dean alternately bashing his face into his pillow and drinking some unknown substance directly out of a bottle by the side of his bed.  
  
Sam didn’t ask until the morning.  


  
~~  


“So, Dean… are you feeling okay?” the younger brother asked as they both went about packing up their duffels.  


“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine.”  


“Well it’s just that you’ve been avoiding talking all morning. And you were suffocating yourself with a pillow last night. Oh, and you keep muttering ‘stupid’ under your breath as if I can’t hear you.” Sam ticked the points off his fingers while a pair of boxers were swinging from them waiting to be put away.  


Dean looked up at that, trying to stop sweating nervously like a teenager caught in a lie.  


“Sam, I’M FINE. Hey, do you want to stop at the diner across town on the way back?”  


Sam huffed. “Nice try man, your subtlety about changing the subject never fails to amaze me.” he said with an eyebrow raised. “But for your sake, I won’t ask anymore, clearly you’re turning into a girl.”  


It said a lot for Dean’s current state of mind that he didn’t throw the nearest blunt object at his brother’s head. 

~~

So yes, as a resulting factor, the car ride was awkward. Dean continued to refuse to talk about anything to do with emotions and Sam continued to keep prodding at Dean like he was a prize specimen.  


“Is it about a girl?”  


Dean huffed.  


“How about the case?”  


Dean rolled his eyes.  


“Is it to do with Cas?”  


Dean froze.  


“Sam! Stop asking for crying out loud!” he growled angrily before turning up Led Zeppelin until the windows started to shake.  
  
Sam glanced worriedly at his brother before turning away to face the window and muttering something about ‘big baby’ and ‘defensive’.   
  
This, unfortunately, left Dean alone with his thoughts. Thoughts that still ran along the lines of ‘I’m such a dick’, ‘Cas is going to hate me forever’ and ‘do I have a crush on my best friend?’ all in the space of a second. He felt like a frikkin’ Cosmo magazine. 

But if the car ride was awkward, it was nothing compared to what awaited them both at Bobby’s.   
  
By the time they pulled up at the ramshackle house that the brothers called their second home, the tension had dissipated and they were arguing about the exorcism they’ve had to perform more and more regularly.  


“Okay, look” Sam said with a sigh of defeat, “Yes, saying ‘Adios’ instead of “Audi Nos’ at the end is funny but come on Dean, you nearly missed that one trying to get away because you were laughing so hard.”  


“Whatever Sammy, I won’t do it again. Although I’m pretty sure even the demon cracked a smile the last time I said it” Dean said with a wink.  


“Yeah I’m sure he did Dean.” Sam put on his ‘I’m so done with your shit’ face and stalked inside, swinging his duffel bag over his shoulder before realising that it was full of very heavy, very pointy guns. Dean laughed pulling his own bag out of the Impala’s trunk, watching his brother struggle with the aftermath of getting stabbed in the tail bone with a .31 calibre Colt while still trying to get through the threshold of the house.  


Everything was good.  


They had finished a hunt, Sam wasn’t arguing with him AND he got to laugh at his brother getting hurt while trying to storm off. He could even try to forget about what happened last night.  
Key word ‘TRY’. 

~~

He knew it wouldn’t last.  
Once both duffel bags were securely put inside each of the brothers rooms - Dean still chuckling to himself every so often – they headed downstairs for some long awaited lunch because although Dean’s changing-the-subject technique back at the motel seemed to work in the short term, they never did stop at that ‘diner across town’. Bobby hadn’t appeared yet from wherever he was hiding but needless to say, he definitely knew they were there. Gruff old man he might be, but Bobby didn’t miss a trick, especially when it came to the Winchesters.  
  
The second both brothers had stepped into the kitchen it became apparent where the old man had been while they were sorting out their stuff. Bobby was leaning casually against the counter while Cas was standing very not-casually stiff as a poker, talking to the other man about the case and how it they ganked the bitch. Of course the angel didn’t use words like ‘ganked’, Dean wasn’t sure they were even in his vocabulary. He was more inclined to use words like ‘terminated’, speaking like he came straight from Buckingham Palace. Dean definitely did not find that endearing. At all.  
  
Both brothers watched them now, getting a slight nod of acknowledgement from Bobby and being completely ignored by Cas.  


“…and then we went back to the motel, before Sam went out to consume alcohol and Dean went to find a woman to copulate with.”  


Bobby hurriedly put his hands up, “Okay boy, that’s quite enough, I don’t need to hear all about how Dean snagged some unlucky lass. I think you need to work on not giving as much detail next time.” he shuddered.  


Sam looked at his older brother expectantly, waiting for him to make a comment on Bobby’s use of the word ‘unlucky’. Instead he turned to find Dean pale-faced and twitchy, glaring at the side of Cas’s head as if he was trying to link telepathically to his friend.  


“That’s quite enough story-telling, don’t you think? So, what’s for lunch?” Dean said quickly, plastering a smile onto his face.  


Bobby shot a confused look at Sam, getting a bemused expression and a shrug in reply. Cas, as usual, looked completely bewildered at the sudden change of events; trying to open his mouth to finish whatever end the story had.  
Before the angel could even get a word in edgewise, Dean swooped in, 

“So Cas, I was thinking that you could go and zap to the nearest pizza place and pick us up a few circles of heaven before you flew off to who-knows-where?” he said.  


“Of course Dean but –“  


“And don’t forget the pie.” Dean interrupted.  
  
Whatever face he had on seemed to work, as Cas looked mildly intimidated before going to do what Dean ordered.  
The man breathed a slight sigh of relief then turned to face the room.  


“What?” He said in reply to the looks of confusion on both his surrogate father’s and younger brother’s faces, “I’m hungry”. 

~~

They ate in silence.  
  
Well, silence punctuated by the occasional moans of contentment from Dean as he bit into each slice of pizza. The food seemed to have successfully distracted him from whatever was bothering him before, although he still wasn’t looking at Cas in the eye – mostly because the angel was just sitting there, looking at Dean in fascination as he ate.  
Once the food was gone and Cas mojoed away all the mess they had made, Dean went upstairs, claiming he needed to clean the guns – which actually could have been a very valid activity if he didn’t have a slightly pained look on his face. The moment Sam and Bobby acknowledged his excuse, Dean scuttled up the stairs as fast as he could without looking overly suspicious. 

It was hard to do so without his family noticing the slight bulge in the front of his jeans.  
The well had sprung open and now he couldn’t stop noticing every little thing that Cas did, from his willingness to do whatever Dean told him, to his beauti-ANNOYING piercing gaze. And so what if he had been moaning maybe a little louder than was necessary when eating the pizza?  
  
Sue him.


	3. The Fucking Annoying Little Brother That Was Annoying

The next few days spent at Bobby’s were blissful.  
  
Well, as blissful as a few days could be for people that hunted monsters for a day job. It was peaceful in the sense that Bobby was forcing the brothers to continue with the ‘holiday’ that was originally planned before they had gone off to gank the ghost. That meant a whole FOUR DAYS of lying around reading (Sam), waxing the Impala for the umpteenth time (Dean), teasing Sam about his reading (Dean), teasing Dean about his fascination with his car (Sam) or being in a constant state of mild irritation at the Winchesters and regretting insisting on the holiday (Bobby).

Dean had to admit, it was nice having a break from the near perpetual anxiety him and his brother had to endure while hunting, especially now since Cas hadn’t been around in a while. That was fantastic because it allowed Dean to clear his head and forget about that whole drama. It WAS fantastic. He definitely WAS NOT a bit disappointed Cas hadn’t been around in a while.  
  
Definitely not.  
  
Dean was desperately trying not to admit that he was in denial. 

Eventually though, both brothers became restless and were itching to get back in the game (not to mention Dean was starting to miss his bed in the bunker). So, as a result of two overgrown boys getting fidgety and eating him out of house and home, Bobby decided to admit defeat.

“I picked up a hunt for you back in Kansas boys.” Bobby said during yet another insanely large dinner. “Looks like a Djinn; there were two bodies found strung up in a warehouse on the edge of Lebanon." (Was it a coincidence that the hunt was in the same town as the bunker? Definitely not). "One dead boy and one girl pretty much out of her mind, keeps spurting out weird phrases about family that the records say have been dead for a few years now. Shouldn’t take too long but you boys should get over there before more innocents are murdered.”

The brothers both pushed their empty plates forward at the same time and Dean leant back in his chair. 

“Trying to get rid of us, aye Bobby?” Dean accused with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Bobby rolled his eyes. “Of course I am, ya idgit, have you seen how much food I’ve had to buy in the past day alone? I swear, the lady at the grocery store is wondering why I’m keeping a pack of wolves at my house. It won’t be long before the cops come to investigate.”

“I’m surprised they haven’t already, considering your house looks like it belongs in a book of satanic rituals” Sam said, looking pointedly at the rather large sigils scrawled on the wall of the kitchen. 

Bobby shrugged. “My charm and good looks keep 'em away.”

At that, both brothers busted out laughing, Dean clutching his sides as he near toppled from his seat that was still precariously balanced on two legs.

“It wasn’t that funny” Bobby mumbled as he dropped the plates in the sink.

Needless to say, the laughter followed him out of the kitchen and all the way back into his study.

~~

The next morning Dean opened his eyes to threadbare carpet and a mouth full of dust. 

All was silent. 

Then

“SAMMY!!!”

(On the opposite side of the road, an old lady startled and dropped her mug, smashing it into pieces as it hit the tiled floor of the kitchen. Just brewed tea spilled between the cracks in the grout and the spoon that had been resting in the cup scattered under the fridge.  
The old lady drew her shawl around her shoulders tightly and looked fearfully out the window to the old ramshackle house where the roar had emerged. She was fearful of the house and the old man that lived there, and she thought privately to herself that he had gone a bit mad in his recent years.  
Before cleaning up, she briefly wondered who ‘Sammy’ was.)

“Yes Dean?” Sam said innocently.

“Did you actually just PUSH me out of bed?!” The barely contained irritation was seeping into Dean's words.

He heaved himself off the ground and ran a hand through his soaking hair.  
Wait a minute.  
Soaking?

“DID YOU POUR WATER ON ME?!”

“Well yeah. I tried shaking you first and when that didn’t work, I poured the glass of water that was on your bedside table over your head. But I guess that didn’t work either because you didn’t react, so I pushed you off the bed.”

Sam’s casual words didn’t convey the mild fear he felt emerge when he caught sight of his brother’s furious face. 

He edged towards the door.

“You needed to get up Dean, it’s already six and you said we should leave before dawn breaks.”

He took a step closer towards the door.

“I mean really, I was doing you a FAVOUR if you think about it” He forced a laugh.

The door seemed like it was eons away and he could feel Dean’s glare like a physical sword.

“I’m just going to go- oh did you here that? I think Bobby was calling me.”

He just about ran out of the room. 

By the time Sam got down the stairs his heart was beating fast. At the time pranking his brother was fun, a GOOD idea. But seeing his face set in that murderous expression? He had forgotten how good Dean was at getting revenge. And no doubt this time would be a killer. 

The fact that he couldn’t hear Dean following him sent a wave of dread settling in the pit of his stomach. He wasn’t going to retaliate immediately. This meant Sam was in a whole heap of trouble. He didn’t want to know what was waiting for him once this hunt was over.

~~

As it turns out, he didn't need to wait that long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter was so short, I'm a terrible person and I have no excuse.


	4. The Prank

“Got it Cas?”

The angel looked even more confused and shook his head slowly. 

“I don’t understand why. What is the long term benefit of putting hair colouring in Sam’s shampoo?” the angel questioned.

Dean put the bottle of blue hair dye down and turned to face Cas, grinning at the adorable head tilt. 

“It’s not SUPPOSED to be a “long-term benefit” Cas, it’s supposed to be a short term HILARIOUS event where we laugh at how angry Sam gets. That’s what a prank IS.”

Cas went to nod then paused. “But….is that not a bit cruel? By observation, it seems as though your brother puts a lot of sentimental value in his hair.”

Dean laughed with his head thrown back. “Sentimental value; yeah that sounds about right. But nah, I don’t think he’ll be THAT mad, I mean, who can stay angry at this face?” he put his biggest shit-eating grin on and bared his teeth at Cas. In truth, he knew Sam would be furious and probably would hate Dean for the entire duration of the hunt. But still, it would come out eventually. 

“I see your point.” Cas said, giving Dean a small smile that was the equivalent of a laugh for someone not a celestial wavelength of intent. 

Dean blushed and quickly continued pouring the dye in the bottle, he wasn’t expecting Cas to respond to his teasing, let alone agree with him. It meant nothing of course, but his traitorous body sent tingles up his spine. 

“Okay, there. Now we just wait until Sam gets back from grabbing lunch and then pretend as if we’ve done nothing except watch T.V. while he’s been out. Capiche?”

“Yes Dean. Although I don’t know why you’re going to such lengths to irritate Sam. It seems rather unnecessary.”

“Have you met your brother Gabriel or…? His whole agenda is literally just ‘pissing people off for the hell of it’. If you want to talk about ‘unnecessary’, go to him.”

“Point taken.” Cas said, shrugging in a very stiff way, as if he’d never done it before. Dean supposed he probably never had. 

“I’ll be back, just gotta chuck this in the bathroom.” he said as he stood up, wiggling the shampoo bottle. He was glad Cas was going to stay and help out with the hunt. It might not be very big but the angel didn’t have much to do nowadays. Plus, it always helped when you had someone on your team that could detect Djinn within a 5 mile radius, it would save him and Sam a hell of a lot of time.  
As he walked into the bathroom Dean admitted that, mostly, he was glad that Cas was here because he liked hanging out with him. Telling him about pranks, watching him try different foods for the first time, or watching the latest T.V. program on; these things were something that Dean treasured because between hunting and the not-so-apocalypse they never did get to do them. He loved having his friend around. And over the past few days, he had begun to realize that he loved having Cas around for more reasons than being just his ‘friend’. Every time the angel tilted his head, he wanted to grab it in both hands and put their lips together. Every time the angel stretched, he wanted pull him in by the waist and hug him. Every time the angel laughed, he wanted it to last forever. He wanted to hear that laugh every day of his life, wake up to that smile and those eyes, and be able to pull the angel in whenever he wanted to. 

Dean couldn’t believe what he just admitted (albeit only to himself). 

He didn’t just want to bang Cas into the mattress, he wanted to do all those chick-flicky things as well? He paused, thought, and then sighed. 

This was so much harder than first anticipated.

~~

“Honey, I’m home!” 

Dean raised an irritated eyebrow at Sam from his sprawled out position on the couch, his arm definitely on the back of the seat and not around Cas.

Sam huffed at his brother’s expression. 

“I see someone didn’t get laid while I was gone.”

Dean’s eyes widened in shock. 

“What? I don’t know what you mean, why would I do that? That’s so irresponsible.” He stammered out.

Sam looked at his brother strangely.

Dean wanted to die. One, Sam didn’t mean anything by it, and two, he DEFINITELY did not mean sex with Cas.

“Woah, chill bro it was a joke. Although, considering your track record for how fast you can pick up a girl, bring her home and get laid? I’m actually kinda surprised.” He shrugged, still looking at Dean as if he was secretly a shifter.

“Anyway, on my way to buying lunch I talked to the waitress who said that two burly guys had rolled in to town yesterday, stayed for a night, then left about the same time we got here. And no other people have been taken since. By the descriptions I was thinking it was probably Felix and Dave. And I would SAY, that they did our job for us.”

“What, the two douchebag hunters we met back in ’01? What were they doing here?” Dean scowled at the lettuce in his bacon cheeseburger as he took it out of the wrapping. 

Sam gave his long-suffering “my brother is an idiot” face and sighed.

“Hmmm… let me think – oh right! The case that we’re working on!” He drawled, forcing as much sarcasm into his voice as he could muster.

“Alright, Chandler Bing, calm the farm.” Dean said as he chewed his burger. “Do you think they killed the Djinn then?”

“Do you even listen to anything that I say? Yes, I think they did. We might want to stick around for a few days in case any other missing person reports are filed, but I think we’re good.”

“SWEET. Those guys are dicks but I owe them one for slaying those blue skinned freaks. ” Dean exhaled noisily and leaned back into the couch, throwing his empty food wrappers in the bin beside the couch. 

It was then Sam realized how quiet Cas had been this whole time (not that that was very unusual, he was a statue half the time anyway). 

Looking over at the angel made him notice the casual arm slung over the back of the sofa that looked like it could almost, ALMOST be around Cas’s shoulders. 

The angel seemed to be completely unaware of the near romantic gesture and had turned back towards the T.V. once the brothers had stopped talking. 

Sam narrowed his eyes.

“So, if you didn’t get laid, what did you do while I was gone?” He looked down at his watch. “It HAS been a while, I was talking to the waitress for a rather long time.”

If Sam didn’t know better, he could’ve sworn he saw the angel’s shoulders stiffen slightly. And Dean’s bicep tense.

“Watched T.V, I guess. It didn’t seem like a long time, I was showing Cas 'Dr. Sexy'. Wasn’t I?” He looked over at Cas next to him, silently pleading the angel with his eyes to go along with his story.

“O-of course. Yes. That is what we did. I like 'Dr.Sexy' very much.” Cas nodded enthusiastically. “It’s a well written and complex show with many plot twists and character development”. 

Sam narrowed his eyes until they were just slits. 

“Oh really? You think ‘Dr. Sexy’ is ‘complex’ and ‘well written’?”

“Yes?” Cas looked a bit frightened at this point, Dean could see the distress on his face from trying to lie convincingly. As well as somewhat breaking his moral compass as he did so.

“Okay, that’s really great Dean. I’m so glad you’re showing Cas some THINGS. Especially things he hasn’t EXPERIENCED before.” 

Sam raised his eyebrows pointedly before spinning on his heel and waltzing out of the room. 

Dean turned to Cas.

“I think he bought it.”


	5. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sammy's hair is blue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I'm a terrible person and I should've updated sooner and honestly, I have been trying to write this but I'm struggling to find motivation. I'll finish it though, I'll never just abandon a story. I tried to do a longer chapter in apology and I hope you all can forgive me (if anyone actually cares).

It was creeping up on him. Whatever ‘it’ was. He saw it in the form of blue eyes and minor heart palpations. He saw it in the way he looked at Cas, and the feeling that he never wanted to look away. 

And honestly? 

It scared the fuck out of him.

What was his last long-term relationship? Cassie? Of course he loved her but it wasn’t like this. He knew that it wouldn’t last because they were always moving, never staying in one place for longer than half a year. This was different. With Cas, he felt like he could have a life with him, a life of fighting monsters side by side. Or maybe all the monsters could disappear and he and Cas could settle down, find a nice cottage out of the way; have Sam as a neighbour – well, Sam and his family. Because of course in this fantasy Sam would have a family. And a dog. Maybe even he and Cas could have a dog, he knew the angel would like that. He could wake up every morning to blue eyes and a confused face, and he’d pull him in, closer, closer and - WAIT A FUCKING MOMENT. What the hell is he doing?! 

Cas doesn’t love him.

Actually, he’s pretty sure most of the time Cas doesn't even LIKE him. He’s a celestial wavelength of intent, not a high school crush. 

The fantasy broke up into pieces and ran down the drain, never to be seen again. He can’t keep thinking like this, he needs to man up and admit that it’s never going to happen – ESPECIALLY that whole ‘all monsters are going to die so me and Cas can live happily ever after’ thing. 

With that depressing thought, Dean heaved himself out of bed and ran his fingers through his hair.

Soon enough, the churning feeling of pain went away with a single yell.

“DEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Dean smirked. He leapt off the bed, ripped open the bedroom door and sprinted down the hallway to ‘Cas’s room’. The spare room really, but Cas had taken a liking to the small porcelain cat sitting on the mantelpiece so it kinda belonged to him.

“Cas! GET YOUR FEATHERY ASS OUT OF THE ROOM, WE GOTTA GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!”

Dean nearly tore Cas’s door open in his adrenaline rush, the wood slamming against wall with a resounding crash. 

Only to find the angel sitting with perfect posture on the side of the bed – albeit staring at Dean with complete and utter terror. 

“Cas what the hell are you doing?! We gotta go man!” 

Dean took a moment to wonder about what the angel did in his free time. Did he literally just sit on the bed for hours, staring at the wall? That seems like something a millennia old celestial being would do. 

“I-I don’t- what is happening- I don’t…” 

Cas opened and closed his mouth in bewilderment, his eyes still locked on Dean’s. 

“Look, just - come here.” 

Dean ran further into the room and yanked the sleeve of Cas’s trench coat, pulling him right up off the bed and nearly into his arms. He waited for a moment, with blue orbs staring a mere inch apart from his face, widened with confusion. 

The moment broke with another faint yell from the vicinity of Dean’s room.

“Shit, we have to go like, NOW. Either that, or blue-haired Sammy’s going to come around the corner and beat us to a pulp.”

Realization sparked in Cas’s eyes before Dean pulled him straight out of the room and sprinted down the hallway, the angel trailing behind like a puppy on a leash. 

They both ran through the bunker together, Sasquatch footsteps gaining on them with every turn, Sam now realizing where they were (or at least, realizing that he has ears and could just follow the sound of Dean’s panic). 

Finally, the door to the bunker came into view and Dean pushed Cas through it before stumbling through it himself and slamming it behind him. 

“Go, go GO!! TO THE IMPALA!” Dean yelled at Cas as the door was pulled open behind them. 

He wrenched the door of his baby open – mentally apologizing to the car in the process – and revved up the engine. A rustle of wings later and a frazzled looking angel fell into the seat next to him. Dean pulled the Impala back in a quick one eighty and watched his brother try to catch up. 

At this point, both Dean and Cas took a moment to appreciate the result of their prank. Sam’s hair was indeed bright blue.

And not that nice, pale, sky blue. 

A blinding fluorescent blue that Dean bet could totally glow in the dark if tested. That, combined with the Bitchface #56 – ‘I am so super angry you wouldn’t believe but also feeling very betrayed how could you do this to me Dean’ – meant Sammy made a perfect picture. 

Just as his brother reached the passenger door, Dean revved the engine and drove out of grass and onto the road. But not before yelling out his window,

“Don’t worry Sammy, blue is definitely your colour!!” 

~~

Half an hour passed without comment. Dean knew that Sam was better left alone to cool off before even listening to any apology, otherwise he would just blow up. 

He gave it about 2 hours before he could enter the house without something blunt and heavy being thrown at him. 

Dean knew exactly where to take the angel. There was a crumbling old diner about 20 miles from the bunker that made the BEST double bacon triple cheeseburger. No joke. Dean thought it was about time that Cas tried a cheeseburger, and there was none better than one also overflowing with bacon. 

Dean - being trapped in the fantasy of how good his burger was going to taste – failed to notice the agitated and restless state of the angel next to him. 

Cas sighed. 

Dean didn’t hear.

Cas sighed louder.

Dean failed focus on anything except dripping bacon fat.  
It wasn’t until five minutes later when Cas started fidgeting with the radio that Dean looked up and spoke menacingly.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Cas gave Dean a frightened glance before turning back to the road and continuing to jiggle in his seat.

“Okay, what it is?” the hunter asked.

“Oh… - it’s nothing” Cas frowned. 

Dean turned back to the road.

“Well, actually, it is something.” A fond sigh was heard from the driver’s seat, he had thought Cas had something on his mind. As much as he was concentrating on food, he couldn’t help but notice the puzzled and worried faces Cas kept sending out the window. 

“It’s just, I know you seem to enjoy playing tricks on your brother” the angel continued, “but don’t you love him? I feel that making someone angry and mad at you isn’t a show of love. What if he thinks you don’t like him anymore??” Cas seemed frantic and scared as if the brothers might decide they hate each other overnight and start another apocalypse.

Dean couldn’t help but throw back his head and make a full body laugh. “Oh Cas, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. We do this shit to each other all the time. Granted, I’ve never messed with Sammy’s hair, but don’t be fooled into thinking he won’t do something equally as bad in the future. He’s sneaky like that.” 

Dean paused to shudder, thinking of the endless pranks that could await him. 

“But, of course I love him. He’s my brother, you see how close we are, I’d die for him. Hell, I HAVE died for him. Pranking is just a bit of fun, something you do to people that are close to you, it shows that you can banter and tease each other but no actual harm happens. Plus, the dye is semi-permanent, it comes out in five washes, he’ll live.

You know, I always say, ‘I prank because I care’.” 

Dean finished with a shit-eating grin thrown at Castiel, who quickly shoved his head so it was facing the road again.

“I understand.” the angel said, still with a hint of confusion on his face. He began to look both frustrated and sad, turning his head to glare out the window again, no doubt making the corn fields wilt as they passed.

Dean looked at him with a perplexed look, before turning back to the road. 

He’d tell him in his own time.

~~

“Oh my…. This… *swallow* …may be the best… *swallow* …thing I’ve ever tasted.” Cas moaned in ecstasy, his eyes very nearly rolling back in his head as he took another bite of the fatty burger.

‘Heh suck it Sam, Cas likes calories’ Dean thought to himself. The thought was promptly followed by,

‘Oh my god if Cas doesn’t stop moaning like that, either someone is going to start looking at us or I’m going to jizz my pants.’

This thought was followed by an extremely erotic-sounding moan from Cas, causing Dean’s knee to fling up and slam into the underside of the table.

The angel’s head flew up at the noise, a smudge of tomato sauce on the corner of his lip and his eyes brighter than Dean had ever seen them. 

He wanted desperately to wipe the sauce of his lips, preferably with his own lips. The more he thought about this, the more it appealed to him. It was a full minute before Dean relaised they had been staring at each other for a period that some may call ‘verging onto eye-fucking territory’.

The moment was broken when Dean abruptly stood up and looked away.

“I think it’s time to go Cas, before you start making love to the burger.”

“I don’t – why would I – Dean, I - ….” Cas looked both alarmed and concerned at the same time in reaction to the absurdity of making love to a hamburger. It was like he was trying to work out the physics of it in his head, at the same time wondering why you would even do such a thing.

“Chill, it’s a figure of speech Cas, now let’s go” the hunter practically dragged the trenchcoated arm out of the booth and back to the Impala. 

“Now you know what heaven tastes like, we should probably go back to the bunker and witness hell, in the form of a floppy haired giant.” Dean sighed as he opened the passenger door for Cas.  
The action – as thoughtful as it was – was completely unnecessary as the angel teleported himself in the seat anyway, causing Dean to roll his eyes close the door with an audible groan.

As soon as the hunter was in the car, Cas turned to him with a disturbed look on his face. 

“Heaven doesn’t have a taste Dean, it’s a place.”

The amount of worry that was in Cas’s voice made Dean want to simultaneously take the angel to an English lesson on metaphors, and hug the shit out of him for being so adorable.

“Never mind Cas, never mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something happens in the next chapter (finally).

**Author's Note:**

> WIP.  
> 


End file.
